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Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway
The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway (GWR, GWSR or Gloucs-Warks Steam Railway) is a volunteer-run heritage railway which runs along the Gloucestershire/Worcestershire border of the Cotswolds, England. The GWSR has restored and reopened of line, operating between and Little Buckland. The company has raised £1.38 million to extend northwards to , and will eventually begin working on plans to extend a further to , (where one half of an island platform has since been partly rebuilt for future usage). Overview The line was originally part of the Great Western Railway's Cheltenham–Stratford-upon-Avon–Birmingham line, known as the Honeybourne Line, built in 1900–1906, and runs through the Cotswold towns of Winchcombe and Bishop's Cleeve. The line was run down over the years and finally closed after a derailment damaged a stretch of track in 1976, with the double track being lifted from 1979. The preservation group rehabilitated the line, starting steam train operations at Toddington in 1984 over of re-laid track. In 1987 the line was restored as far as Winchcombe where the station was reconstructed using the former Monmouth Troy station building. The railway continued to re-lay track west of Winchcombe, through the long Greet Tunnel, and past the villages of Gretton, Gotherington and Bishops Cleeve. This culminated in the reopening of the line to Cheltenham Racecourse in 2003, by Princess Anne. The GWSR runs trains from March to the end of December, with the line closing during January and February as well as November for line and locomotive maintenance. The GWSR runs regular train services every weekend plus most weekdays from Easter to the end of October, and some weekends are used to host special events including steam and diesel galas, Day out with Thomas events and Santa Specials. The railway operates a wide variety of both steam and heritage diesel locomotives, as well as heritage DMUs. These have included the world-famous locomotive 4472 "Flying Scotsman" and equally famous 3440 "City of Truro", which in 1904 was the first engine to reach 100 mph. In 2016 the resident steam locomotives on the line were 7820 "Dinmore Manor", 28xx class 2807, 42xx class 4270, 7903 "Foremarke Hall" and 35006 "Peninsular & Oriental SN Co". To complement the running stock a collection of over 210 carriages and wagons of various origins has been compiled, many of which are still being restored. Signalling of the Heritage GWSR The route consists of single line sections with passing places at the major stations. All stations and loops are signalled using GWR Lower Quadrant Semaphore Signals. The signalling on the line is a mixture of Electric Key Token and One Train Staff working, depending on operational requirements. Current sections are: * Buckland–Toddington (One Train Staff) * Toddington–Winchcombe (EKT) * Winchcombe-Gotherington (EKT) * Gotherington-Cheltenham Race Course (EKT) * Winchcombe–Cheltenham Race Course (EKT) (With Gotherington switched out) * Toddington–Cheltenham Race Course (One Train Staff - with Winchcombe and Gotherington switched out and Cheltenham Race Course behaving as a ground frame) There are four signal boxes along the line, and a new-built platform mounted one at Broadway, with the frame parts all acquired and assembled: * Broadway – set to be operational by 2018-9 * Toddington – operational * Winchcombe – operational * Gotherington – operational * Cheltenham Racecourse – operational Future development plans North to Broadway The GWsR is currently extending its railway north to Broadway Station with an expected full opening date of 30th March 2018. The railway has raised £1.33 million in a share offer entitled "Broadway: the last mile" which will allow it to complete the extension and have it operational by Easter 2018. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-39614067 The first 2,024 yards of the extension opened in May 2017 to (just north of) Little Buckland Bridge in time for the steam gala. The main station building at Broadway is complete to eaves level and the steel riveted roof canopy was installed on 23rd May 2017. The footbridge is also in place, even though the steps have yet to be constructed. The area north of the station has been ballasted and track laying is in progress. A test train entered the station on 23 December 2017 and public opening is still expected on 30 March 2018.http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-42472653 South to Cheltenham map of railways in the vicinity of Gloucester and Cheltenham Spa]] , when they constructed a supermarket on the site of the former station]] Encouraged by support from Cheltenham Borough Council, who have given both the railway direct funds as well as placing protected status on the former lines trackbed south from Cheltenham Racecourse to Cheltenham Spa, the railway could at some point connect to Network Rail in the south. The Council have backed the long term scheme, as this would allow the railway to: * be reinstated as an access point for race goers from all across the UK to easily access meetings at Cheltenham Racecourse, and reduce resultant current traffic congestion * build a new halt in the Wyman's Brook area of Cheltenham itself, to serve an adjacent Prince of Wales sports stadium * run tourist and excursion trains to access the railway and the town Although the GWSR have extended track to (and through) Hunting Butts tunnel, a few hundred metres beyond Cheltenham racecourse station, it owns the trackbed as far as the Prince of Wales stadium at Wyman's Brook. It is likely that after completion of its extension to Broadway, laying track further into Cheltenham will happen to this point; a distance of about 1 mile. However, beyond here major and costly engineering works would be required to extend the trackbed further south. The primary impediment is a bowstring bridge (located at ), built in 2002 to allow continued access by bicycle along the old track bed alignment to Cheltenham Leisure Centre. When planning permission was given for the redevelopment of the former station site as a Waitrose supermarket in 2002. The resulting bowstring bridge follows a section of former railway embankment, which was removed to provide road access to the new store. North from Honeybourne When the GWSR was first formed, it intended to purchase the entire line from Cheltenham Racecourse to Stratford Racecourse. However, when applying for the required Light Railway Order, the group was informed that they were unlikely to be granted the order for 25 miles when they hadn't any experience of running a railway. A reduced application for the 15 miles from Cheltenham Racecourse to Broadway was submitted. Landslips In the early 2010s the GWSR was affected by two major landslips in embankments on the line, which severed the preserved line into separate sections; however, both slips have now been repaired, and the whole line has been fully reopened. 2010 (Gotherington) In April 2010 the GWSR suffered a landslip of an embankment near Gotherington. Train services continued despite the Gotherington landslip, but over a reduced route. The landslip forced the closure of the line south of Gotherington, including Cheltenham Racecourse Station, which was effectively cut off. The railway continued to operate services from Toddington to Gotherington, with a locomotive at both ends of the train ("top and tailed"), as it was not possible to run the locomotive around the train at Gotherington at the time (there is now a run round loop just south of Gotherington). The railway launched a £1m appeal, both to fund the rebuilding of the embankment, and also to undertake preventative maintenance to ensure that similar problems do not happen at other points along the line. It was deemed unlikely that the line south of Gotherington would reopen before July 2011, but donations ensured that the work could be carried out promptly, and it was reopened on 22 April 2011. 2011 (Chicken Curve) In January 2011 the railway was damaged by another landslip just east of Winchcombe station at Chicken Curve. The landslip severed the railway in two; it was very similar to the one at Gotherington, but closer to the middle of the route. It was estimated that the cost of the repair work would be £850,000; funds for the repair were successfully raised. During the repair period a DMU service was run from Toddington up to the extension at Laverton; since the earlier Gotherington slip had been repaired, steam trains ran from Winchcombe to Cheltenham Racecourse, the steam locomotive maintenance facilities temporarily being transferred to Winchcombe. The Chicken Curve landslip was repaired over the summer of 2012, and the GWSR is once again operational as a single unified line from Cheltenham Racecourse to the site of Laverton Halt, a total of 12 route miles in length. Steam locomotives Operational Away from the GWR Undergoing restoration, repairs or overhaul Stored or static Diesel locomotives and DMUs Operational Non operational Coaching stock Operational coaches are shown in bold. See also * North Gloucestershire Railway – a narrow gauge railway also at Toddington * Stratford on Avon and Broadway Railway – a now defunct group that had initially hoped to restore the railway between Stratford upon Avon and Broadway. References * Cotswold Line Promotion Group Includes proposal to link GWR to main line at Honeybourne * About Britain Entry * Cheltenham local attractions * Reference in directory of Heritage Railways in the UK * New bridge on the Honeybourne Line. External links * Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway * North Gloucestershire Narrow Gauge Railway * Cotswold Steam Preservation Ltd. - Owners of No. 2807 * Warwickshire Railways Category:Heritage railways in Gloucestershire Category:Transport in Cheltenham Category:Places